LONDON -- Entering the French Open final, Novak Djokovic was by far the best player on the men's side.
He won his fifth Australian Open early in the season, then added ATP Masters 1000 titles in Indian Wells, Miami, Monte Carlo and Rome. His record through five months was an ethereal 41-2. Not only was he the favorite for the title at Roland Garros, but there was a prevailing opinion among the aficionados that Djokovic could win three of the four majors. Or ... might he be so dominant that he could actually win the calendar-year Slam?
For the better part of two weeks in Paris, it seemed quite possible.
And then, of course, Stan Wawrinka won the French, and everyone -- Djokovic included -- had to recalibrate.
Which brings us to Wimbledon, where as recently as Monday morning, Djokovic was the favorite of the bookmakers to win the tournament. And then the defending champion found himself staring at a two-set deficit, a yawning chasm against Kevin Anderson, a huge-serving South African who was an All-American at the University of Illinois.
Could Djokovic come all the way back?
We won't know until sometime Tuesday afternoon. That's because chair umpire Carlos Bernardes suspended the match because of darkness just after 9 p.m. local time, after Djokovic won the third and fourth sets to even the match at 7-6 (6), 7-6 (6), 1-6, 4-6.
Wimbledon officials elected to move a third-round match between Gilles Simon and Gael Monfils from Court No. 1 to under the lights of Centre Court on Saturday night because of darkness. But that was because a suspension would have forced some of the Monday fourth-round matches to get pushed to Tuesday.
Since the men's quarterfinals are all on Wednesday, the All England Club decided not to move Monday's match. The fifth set will be played Tuesday, right before the two women's matches on Court No. 1.
On three occasions, Djokovic has rallied from a two-set deficit: against Guillermo Garcia Lopez in the second round of Wimbledon in 2005, against Roger Federer in the 2011 US Open semifinals and against Andreas Seppi in the fourth round of the 2012 French Open.
Anderson has lost twice when holding a two-set lead, to Edouard Roger Vasselin in the first round of the 2010 French Open and against Nikolay Davydenko in the first round of Wimbledon in 2010.
Anderson's serve was a field-leveler against Djokovic, who was lucky to even force a first-set tiebreaker. At 6-all, Djokovic's sense of timing for a double fault was simply awful. Anderson, with his second set point, ripped a 140 mph ace outside and took an early lead.
Djokovic actually had a 4-1 lead in the second-set tiebreaker, but a pair of aces eventually got Anderson to 5-all. Djokovic, who had saved two set points when he was serving to get to the tiebreaker, saw another Anderson ace (133 mph) make it 6-all. A big Anderson forehand resulted in a Djokovic backhand that found the net and, suddenly, Anderson had a third set point. Djokovic seemed to have tied it again, but Anderson lunged and hit a stretch backhand volley winner.
Djokovic rallied to win the third and fourth sets with some inspired serving, and when Anderson couldn't track down a sweet running forehand, Djokovic had pulled even. He screamed and pumped his fist, but soon after, boos began cascading from the stands around Court No. 1 when Bernardes' decision was announced.
It will probably be a difficult night for Anderson, who has 32 aces through four sets, although he's lucky the way Djokovic was playing that they didn't play a fifth set. Djokovic should feel fortunate, too.
He still has a chance to defend his title.